The co-owner of a west Norfolk village pub has said she was "shocked" when she found out her business had been nominated for two national awards.

Located near King's Lynn, The Angel at Watlington has been nominated for Best Pub for Food and its head chef, Richard Crouch, is up for Best Pub Chef at the Great British Pub Awards 2022.

Emily Phipps, who co-owns the pub with Mr Crouch, said they were glad to be appreciated but she reaffirmed that the happiness of customers was more important than any awards.

"We're a bit shocked, it's always lovely to be nominated for awards, and we're quite lucky, we've won a few," she said. "But the most important thing is that our customers and regulars enjoy what we do.

"The best thing about awards is they're always a nice day out, we'll have all the team going to Manchester to see if we win."

Mr Crouch has already been involved in a cook-off against a former MasterChef competitor and chefs from as far away as the Isle of Wight and he is now waiting to hear the results.

"It's nice to get this appreciation, we've got a site visit coming up for the food pub award and Richard has been at the cook-off," Ms Phipps added.

"He was up against a former MasterChef competitor so we're shocked and proud to be in competition with people of that stature."

The pub will now attend the awards ceremony in Manchester in October to find out if they have won.

It comes after Tiffany Long, head chef at The White Hart in Ashill was nominated for the Best Young Chef award.